Rebarrelling a short action Remington

I have a Remington model 7 in wood blue. Short action. I am mulling over the possibilities of re-barrelling this. Don't wish to go below 7mm cal. and I have a preference for .30 cal.
Any suggestions as to options, procedures and likely cost scenario's.
If I do modify the rifle, I would want the new version to be very accurate. The main use will be for deer, tahr, chamois, pigs, and a bit of paper punching. It is currently .308 win with 18 inch bbl and 100% standard factory specs and in good nick.

7saum

Get the bolt face opened and get an ultra match fluted barrel of you're choice. Might cost $1000 or so. Might as well get a carbon stock as well

Do you have a chambering in mind, something you would really enjoy ?

Eg. 300 saum

Don't really mind the chambering provided it is easy to get dies, brass etc, and reloads without being finicky and is very accurate. (0.5 moa or better). I prefer rounds over 150 grain weight and I like Sierra as my goto reliable bullets.

Is there a preference for SAUM over WSM for any particular reason/s?

338 Federal is a regular thought for me. More of an up close and personal chambering but I have yet to meet an owner of one who ever thought he was out gunned.
Relatively cheap components, good powder options and necked up 308Win brass would probably re-use some of your current supplies.
Barrels are barrels and gunsmiths don't care about the hole in the middle so your costs will be similar regardless.

Wsm doesn't fit easily in short action

Ok. That makes sense. Ta.

Would the 300 saum feed from the existing .308 win magazine OK or are modifications required?

While it's not a 30 cal or 7mm
The 6.5 SAUM would be my choice in a mod 7

6.5 saum is one I know nothing about. Is it as accurate as the 6.5 55 and 6.5 264? How does the cartridge base compare to the .308 base diameter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DAF

While it's not a 30 cal or 7mm
The 6.5 SAUM would be my choice in a mod 7

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We need a multi like button.

Slightly biased though I am

BUT it is a wildcat so you need to "roll your own" ammo

Just keep it 308 and go for a 22" barrel. It will do everything you want.

Isn't a 7mm08 better though ?

30.-284 or 284 spin your wheels?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

30.-284 or 284 spin your wheels?

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Might not fit too well in model 7, you can't really extend the mag box.

Jeese, ive got plenty of numbers for this weeks lotto.......

Interesting input fellows. I appreciate it.
I am leaning more towards 7mm or .308 cal diameter bullets as those are the rounds I use in my current rifles. Therefore I would be placing .338 and 6.5 on the back burner and favouring cartridges that suit the existing .308 Win bolt face and magazine without me needing to modify either of those.

From comments seen through the forum so far, I have the impression that either 7mm Rem SAUM or .300 Rem SAUM might fill the bill- so to speak, in that no modifications to bolt or magazine should be required. Am I correct in tis assumption?

If I am, then my next question is to decide on the appropriate barrel length and profile and weight. I am not much into suppressors, although a muzzle brake is on the cards.

Somebody made the comment about sticking with the .308. This is fair comment except I have a couple of excellent other .308 rifles so do not need a third. I also have a couple of 7*61 Sharpe & hartrifles and have worked up some good loads for these. The load data for 7mm WSM is so close to the loads I use in the 7*61's that there is little difference using160 grain SGK's. Typical velocity is over 2950fps and sub moa accuracy. However, I do not want to wear these two rifles out "gonging" so figured that adapting the Model 7 might be an answer. Therefore the 7mm SAUM or .308 SAUM look pretty attractive options to me if there are minimal hassles in the conversion. But I need to know ; a) options and ;b) feasibility, and : c) component options / specifications. Finally, costs come into play.

We seem to have looked at some options, and now are into the "b" feasibility-fish-hooks-hassles free or not--stage principally around bolt face and magazine / feeding etc.

I am learning, with your help. Please keep it coming.

The SAUM will need you to open the bolt face

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Woody

I have a Remington model 7 in wood blue. Short action. I am mulling over the possibilities of re-barrelling this. Don't wish to go below 7mm cal. and I have a preference for .30 cal.
Any suggestions as to options, procedures and likely cost scenario's.
If I do modify the rifle, I would want the new version to be very accurate. The main use will be for deer, tahr, chamois, pigs, and a bit of paper punching. It is currently .308 win with 18 inch bbl and 100% standard factory specs and in good nick.

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Don't bother with wildcats, they are more trouble than they are worth. Get a good quality 22" barrel fitted in either 7mm-08 or .308 (shouldn't exceed $800). Either will do the job perfectly well out to any normal hunting distance. Forget the elusive .5 MOA! 1 MOA is perfectly acceptable for target shooting and 2 MOA is fine for hunting. Before you do any of that, exactly how badly does your existing barrel shoot? If the bore is good, you will be surprised what a good trigger and bedding job will do. Far too many people spend good money repairing non-existent problems!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gundoc

Don't bother with wildcats, they are more trouble than they are worth. Get a good quality 22" barrel fitted in either 7mm-08 or .308 (shouldn't exceed $800). Either will do the job perfectly well out to any normal hunting distance. Forget the elusive .5 MOA! 1 MOA is perfectly acceptable for target shooting and 2 MOA is fine for hunting. Before you do any of that, exactly how badly does your existing barrel shoot? If the bore is good, you will be surprised what a good trigger and bedding job will do. Far too many people spend good money repairing non-existent problems!

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+1

That makes perfect, logical sense.

I've got a model 7 in 7 SAUM. 22" barrel I use 140gr accubonds seated to fit in the magazine, doing about 3000 fps. I use these as my close range spook and shoot load. For ranges past 300 yds I use a 162 a-max. These are seated long and need to be single fed. I have a radial brake I screw on for the long range shots. I have the amax doing approx 2800fps, but some people can get them up to 2900 fps in a similar rifle.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stug

Might not fit too well in model 7, you can't really extend the mag box.

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It alot of effort to do it and it's not really worth it have tm pull the bolt to get them out, made crankin 7mm saum model 7 mag feed 3" loaded rounds only 2 but still good

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Interesting. It would seem the best option is to leave the rifle as is, sell it and then buy one (7mm or 30cal WSM or SAUM) all ready to go. The difference in dollars might be similar to a conversion attempt and with a lot less hassles! :)

Id just keep on the lookout for a remington 700 take off barrel that someone is making a project out of
150$ roughly and will screw straight in, so minimal gunsmithing costs

you would be surprised how many people buy a brand new rem 700 for just the action alone

Is your rifle blued or stainless?

whats wrong with the current barrel?

Nothing wrong with the current barrel. it shoots 130 grain Speer about moa. I have three .308's so I figured I might do something different with this one. The rifle is in tidy order, about 14 years old and wood / blue with 18 inch factory standard bbl.

Sell the model 7! There is a Winchester model 70 30/06 with a HS precision stock MAB 1-8" barrel for $1000 on TM I would buy that if I had the cash it will do all you want and you would not have to muck about

There is a Model 7 7SAUM on trademe 7mm SAUM | Trade Me (not mine, don't know anything about it)

Like DAF said any of the short magnums will require bolt face change from 308 family.

If you don't want to "wear out the barrel" stay away from magnums...

You started off by saying you want a very accurate rife.

My suggestion is to stick with 308 (assume you have the reloading die etc already) or 7mm08 and buy the best quality barrel you can get, have it chambered by someone who really knows what they are doing (mike collings, mitch maxberry etc), and spend all the extra money you have on good glass.

Keep it simple and shoot more :thumbsup:

Personally I'd look at doing a 260 same bolt face and should Mag feed, light recoil and different to what you already have
I like the7-08 also [emoji106]

6.5 creedmoor!!!!!, runs on a shortened 308 case, very accurate and gives very similar performance to the 6.5x55 with less powder I had a go on a creedmoor at muckos gong shoot and walloped the 800 meter gong with it.

So you already have a 308 and it shoots fine, simple whack a reamer up its bum and it is a 30-284, will mag feed tho you may? loose a round capacity in a M7? not up on the remingtons

Mine is pushing a 178gr amax just shy of 3000fps from a 25" barrel which is a useful gain over the 168 amax I was running at 2750 as a 308.

yes this calibre does go better with heavy bullets in a long action allowing seating out of bullets but really its splitting hairs it goes well mag fed from a short action.

Thanks everyone for your input. Interesting and I learnt a few things.
As I said , I have two other very good .308's, so don't need 3, and a few classic rifles which I don't want to wear the original barrels out on.
While, from your several inputs, there are obviously some potential conversion solutions, I think the suggestions of "sell it and look for what you want elsewhere, with the $$ received" makes a lot of sense.

Therefore the rifle is now sold and I will start looking at some of the other gear that is for sale around the place. probably a hv 7mm or .308 cal with fairly high medium / long range retained energy in hunting / sporter configuration.
Thanks all for your help.

ive got a 22inch 6.5 wsm barrel vulcan, fluted and threaded, will fit remington, 150 shots (probily less) $200

n/m

Buying a Leupold VXR 3-9 scope with 30mm tube, Illuminated TMR reticule and Milrad tactical dialup dials and putting it on my 30-06, with the money from the Model 7 sale. ;)